KHL 3x3 Round 18: Dinamo’s Dominance
This was Dinamo Minsk’s best performance to date in the KHL 3x3 Championship. The Belarusians were almost faultless during Round 18, dropping just one point in their final game. That shoot-out loss to Sibir didn’t have any lasting ill-effect, though, with Dinamo rebounding to defeat the Siberians in the Supergame. Sibir came second in the group, with Metallurg third and Barys fourth.
Story of the Round
This one was all about Dinamo Minsk. The Belarusians’ goal song – Sedaya Noch, a hit rock ballad by the late singer Yury Shatunov – was the soundtrack of the weekend as the Bison produced their best round to date.
Dinamo came close to a perfect record, dropping just one game in a shoot-out against Sibir. After a strong finish to the previous round, Minsk recorded an eight-game winning run and, in doing so, tightened its grip on a playoff spot. Dinamo remains third in the Winline Division, but now has a nine-point advantage over Sibir. It’s a handy lead, but there’s more drama to come: the two will go head-to-head in another three rounds before the regular season is done.
“We won five in a row in this round. The team was fired up and wanted to respond to all the words from those experts who said that Dinamo was out of its depth here,” said forward Roman Serafimovich. “And we did that on the ice. We wanted to show that any team can spring a surprise, and nobody should count us out.”
Meanwhile, Metallurg’s game prompted questions once again. Magnitka had three wins and three losses, missing out on the bonus game. Going forward, things were good: Pavel Varfolomeyev and Sergei Shmelyov had 27 points between them. However, on defense Evgeny Timkin’s men have plenty to ponder before returning to action on Thursday in Round 19.
Player of the Round
Evgeny Lisovets (Dinamo)
It wouldn’t overstate the case to suggest that Dinamo hit new heights here thanks largely to the presence of defenseman Evgeny Lisovets on the roster. He was barely off the ice, logging an average ice time of 10:30 – pretty much half of each game. He’s making good use of that time as well, with 16 (8+8) points from 12 games in the two rounds he’s played thus far.
Debut of the Round
Goaltender Alexander Osipkov was another handy new recruit for Dinamo. Vladislav Gorbachyov had played almost without pause up to this round, but now Osipkov is on hand to share that workload more or less evenly. And it seems like a win-win; both for the team, and for Gorbachyov himself, who gets a chance to reload. Osipkov made a bright start, stopping 89.2% of shots (in 3x3, unlike regular hockey, that’s a high percentage) and securing a shut-out in his first round. Moreover, he managed to blank Metallurg, the highest-scoring team in the competition this year. Osipkov is only the seventh goalie to get a shut-out in the KHL 3x3 championship this season.
Game of the Round
Metallurg 5 Dinamo Minsk 6
The game that showed us what Dinamo was bringing to this round came on day one against Metallurg. This 11-goal thriller swung this way and that before the Bison edged the verdict. The Belarusians had the better of the first period, leading 3-1 at the intermission. But Magnitka turned it around completely in the second to lead going into the final stanza. But the last word went to Dinamo with three goals in as many minutes to win it late on.
That result continued a trend in the season series between the two teams. Metallurg won the first five meetings between them, but Dinamo is fighting back with three head-to-head wins in the last three encounters.
Photo of the Round
Continuing the goaltending theme. When Dinamo’s Osipkov produced a shut-out against Metallurg, Gorbachyov was the first to celebrate. And it seems that nobody could be happier for his team-mate. Not even a mask could hide his joy.
